Five Minute Friday – Same

I’m back after some time away (which will be explained in today’s Five Minute Friday post) and ready to spend five minutes writing.

This week’s prompt is “same”…

Things are constantly changing, but they are also always staying the same in many ways. This past few days we revisited a place where we have spent a lot of time and although we’ve changed dramatically, that place remains mostly the same. That place is the Children’s Hospital where my daughter had her transplant. We haven’t been there overnight for over three years, but a hospital room and hospital life is nothing if not the “same”. I’m happy to say we are back home, but realistically looking forward to additional stays some time in the future. We have friends who were there with us when my DD got her transplant and they are back for an entire YEAR – not IN the hospital, but staying at RMH and often in-patient for a few days at a time for cancer treatments. I guess, in some ways, that sameness is a sense of comfort. The fact that I knew where to go to get sheets and blankets and extra pillows and how to order food for my DD and where to go get food when the Children’s Hospital cafeteria was closed one night and to expect nurses in and out of the room throughout the night to do vitals is all a source of comfort where others would have a lot of anxiety. So, in that way, the fact that the hospital is the same is comforting. And I’m thankful for that. But, it is also frustrating to get woke up every day at 6:30 a.m. to get weighed (really? they can’t do a weight AFTER shift change in the morning?) and to always have the same menu to look at for food (but, at least it isn’t just some random meal dropped off to you that your kid will never eat, so that part is good). Always the same beeping of the machines (although thankful we didn’t have to deal with any IV poles or IV fluids this time). Always the same “hurry up and wait” for news or tests or results.

The hospital is much the same despite the new curtains in the rooms and the new little carts to tote kids around the hospital. And for that, I am pretty thankful. Being in the hospital is stressful enough, no need to figure out “new” things while dealing with that.

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That’s it. Join us over at Kate Montaug for this week’s Five Minute write. More on the hospital front in a coming blog post.

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Published by moreatforty

I am a forty-something, late-in-life mom looking to make the last half of my life as good or better than the first half. This blog is my record of that attempt. The successes, the failures and all the messy in-between. Old is a state of mind - and it just isn't sound!
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3 thoughts on “Five Minute Friday – Same”

It sounds as if you have had extreme trials in your life, the kind of stuff that lots of people would lose faith over. If you are linking up with a Christian blog, it is apparent your faith has stayed. Always encouraging to read. God bless you. Saying a prayer for you and your daughter in the Name of the One who is always the same.
Cheers.

All the best for you and your daughter. A hospital is no rest for the weary, but I am consistently amazed by the dedication of those serving people. That gave me comfort with my Mom’s recent stays. Take care, BTG